A New Bag

The old purse I was using was a felted bag that I'd made yonks ago.  The handle started to give out, and then, despite some attempts to maintain it, it finally had to be put to rest some months ago.  I didn't have a new bag at the ready, so I just dug out this old fabric one I had, with a tattoo-print fabric and some plastic handles.  It served my purposes for a while, but ultimately was also an old bag and started to show some wear and tear.  In the last week, the zipper finally broke (on top of various other wear spots and rips in fabric, etc., so I decided it was finally time to stop procrastinating and make something new.

Fortunately I had a pattern and some fabric & notions already for a purse I'd been planning last spring, so I just took my weaving loom down from my crafting table to make room for a sewing project, and threw this baby together in the last 24 hours, natch.

A lovely batik with rainbow colours and a neutral background are paired with a coordinating purple batik handle and lining, matching purple buttons for a bit of embellishment, and a bright blue zipper just to throw everything a bit off kilter.  There are pockets inside there, too, for my phone, my keys, my coffee cup cozy.  It's got a pretty nice shape but is still not quite perfect.  A gusset would be nice, for example, and the outer fabric is a smidge too large for the lining, imho.  I will probably continue to make more purses in pursuit of just the right one to suit me for the next couple of years.  If I ever get around to it.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane... It's a Chair

I found some supercool Superman fabric at the fabric store yonks ago, and picked some up with the intention of making my HLM some pj pants from it. When he saw it, his first thought was that I should use it to recover a stained old bucket chair we had in the living room. Let it be said that I don't know how to reupholster furniture, and let it also be said that this fabric is not upholstery fabric. He was adamant that I could do it (since I am crafty in many ways, he assumes I am crafty in every way) and I can't say no to him, so I put some thought into how to do it and one day tackled it.


I did the bucket part first, since I thought I knew what I was doing. My initial plan didn't really work, but I managed to jury rig something that more-or-less did. The seat cushion part eluded me for a long time, because there is actually a fabric apron holding the cushion to the chair, so a simple cover wasn't possible. Yesterday I figured out how to do it, and this morning I measured and cut and sewed the cushion cover and voila! Super chair.

A Continuation of the Organizing Frenzy

So last night I took a little break from making hexagons and made myself a little fabric box (from this tutorial) to store them in. I figured that I need something to hold them all until I sew them together, so it might as well be something pretty. I'm not sure it will hold them all, but it's pretty roomy (about eight inches square and eleven high) and the initial 360 fit in the bottom quite nicely. Over the next several months, I hope to fill it to the brim.

I also made a Pumpkin Orange loaf this morning. It's my favourite thing to make from leftover pumpkin, and I had lots left over from my Thanksgiving pie. It's very moist and orangey, largely because there is an entire orange in there, rind and all. All those fragrant volatile oils from the peel make it smell (and taste) just divine.

The Chevron Love Hat

Okay, well here she is in all her glory. There are a few little imperfections which I won't dwell on (like the hem being a bit crooked which skews the knitting to the side a bit) but overall I think it's pretty cute. It fits more like a watch cap than like a cloche -- I was anticipating it would not be so snug at the hem but would bell out more. If only I had seen more of them on Ravelry, I would have been aware of this. Perhaps in the future I will make another one and change the pattern slightly to allow for it to have that lovely shape. Even just using bigger needles at the bottom and progressing to smaller ones at the top would probably accomplish this... I would also need to use a firmer yarn than the drapey loveliness of the Louet Gems I have used for this one. Hmmm... *begins to plot one out*

In fabric news... because I didn't get my fabric fix when I was in Portland (and had planned to spend oodles of money on crafty goodness) I went online for a little fabric shopping to make up the difference. Imagine my delight to come across this beautiful fabric collection by Sandy Gervais, called Fresh Squeezed.
The patterns have a lot of citrus colours and shapes, with a bit of watermelon pink and blueberry blue thrown in for a lark. I grabbed a jelly roll of strips plus enough fabric to make this adorable little diamond patterned lap quilt. It is certainly more of a challenge to put together than the hexagon ones I've been making (though the pattern assures me that the top can be sewn in a weekend) but I think I can handle it. *crosses fingers* Watch for this one to show up when I am a bit closer to finishing the hand quilting on Requiem. I find that the hand quilting makes my relationship with each quilt a lot more personal. It also prolongs the process of completing it, which is probably the only thing keeping me from making a new quilt every couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I have been working on some secret little baby projects which will be revealed when the time comes... and now I find out there will be twins! *dusts off her EZ books again*